Chapter 1: Determination

Severa set her feet and drove her lance forward, sinking it deep into the straw dummy in front of her, and nodded in satisfaction. The tip of the lance had pierced through where a bandit's heart would be, and a wound like that would give even one of the Risen pause. She pulled the lance out, grunting slightly with effort, and assumed her combat stance again.

She was the only one on the training ground: the rest of the pegasus knights had finished with their drills almost half an hour ago and had headed off to the bathhouse. Severa, however, had remained behind, continuing to run through the exercises. When she had joined the pegasus knights, most of her fighting experience had been with the sword, not the lance. She was steadily improving, but she still had a long way to go before she was the equal of her mother. Wouldn't you love to see this, Mother? Hmph. It's not like I'm doing this to follow in your footsteps...

Thinking of Cordelia gave Severa a brief pang of sorrow, mixed with irritation. Despite her frequent bitter words and quarreling, Severa had loved her mother dearly, and—though she was reluctant to admit it, even to herself—admired her a great deal as well. Cordelia's devotion to the Exalt's family had been incredible, even if it had been because she was mooning over Chrom at the time.

Severa stomped her way down away from the dummy until she was a few paces beyond the usual throwing distance, thinking to herself as she went. She should have just told him how she felt. Gods! She turned about and hurled the lance in one smooth motion. Her throw was off, however, and the lance bounced harmlessly off. Severa clucked her tongue in annoyance as she went to retrieve it. Her steps back were slower, more thoughtful. Still, I guess I can understand why she didn't speak up. That sort of thing... telling someone you love them... takes a lot of courage.

As she bent to pick up the lance, an unbidden vision of flowing blue hair, strong arms, a shining sword, and a ringing voice passed through Severa's mind. She closed her eyes tightly. Mother was the bravest woman I know. Much braver than I am.

She rammed her lance into the dummy with much more force than was necessary, feeling a solid thunk as its point bit into the wooden core that the straw was lashed around. Her first attempt to tug the lance free was unsuccessful. Oh, great. She frowned and tugged again, this time harder, but it was no good: the lance was firmly planted. I suppose that I should be impressed with how well I did, but instead I'm just pissed off. She spat on her gloves to get a better grip, set her feet, and leaned back, pulling with all of her strength.

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then, quite abruptly, the lance slipped free with a loud splintering sound. Severa, unprepared, lost her balance and fell back, landing hard on her rear. "Ow!" She shook her head. "Ugh. Typical."

"Sevvy!" caroled a high voice. Severa turned to see Cynthia, her still-damp hair pulled up into her customary pigtails, waving cheerily at her from the other side of the practice grounds. Severa got to her feet hurriedly, blushing slightly and hoping that Cynthia hadn't witnessed that... disgraceful display.

"Uh, hey, Cynthia," said Severa, trying to dust herself off as nonchalantly as she could. Great, the last thing that I need is for her to start making fun of me...

"I didn't think you'd still be out here training," said Cynthia, smiling broadly. That big, goofy grin of hers. Like she doesn't have a care in the world. I wish I could be that completely clueless. Gods...

"W-well, I have to make sure that I'm the best pegasus knight I can be. After all, the order has a pretty impressive legacy to live up to—both our mothers were members." She winced. Oh yes, smooth. Real smooth, Severa. I don't want her crying because I brought this up...

Cynthia, however, slapped Severa enthusiastically on the back with enough force to knock her slightly off-balance. "Ha, I knew it! You want to be a hero of justice too, don't you? And don't lie! I can tell when you're lying."

"It's not like that!" Severa protested. "I just... I was just thinking about the last big battle that we fought together, and I guess... well, I really..." She trailed off, staring off to the side in embarrassment.

"You mean how totally awesome our moms were, right?" Cynthia said eagerly. "It was incredible, the way that they fought! Swooping all over the place, their lances piercing the dark hearts of our wicked foes... they really did live up to their legends!"

Except those weren't our real mothers, Severa thought. True, the Sumia and Cordelia who had appeared to save them in the final battle had looked genuine, but they were from another time and place. In this world, they had been dead for years. She was grateful, of course—grateful to the Cordelia who had saved her and bought time for Lucina to save the world—but that Cordelia would never be her real mother.

Aloud, she said, "Yeah. They sure did."

"Well, anyway, that's not why I came out here," said Cynthia, bouncing to a different subject with dizzying speed. "We just finished up in the bathhouse, and we were going to head off to eat pretty soon, but I thought it would really stink for you if you got left behind."

"Thanks for the thought, I guess," said Severa. "You don't have to wait for me, though. I still need to take a bath, and I can find dinner on my own."

"Are you sure?" Cynthia looked concerned. "We really would wait for you. The code of the pegasus knights is to never leave a comrade behind, after all!" She gave another one of her broad smiles, eyes closed, at that remark. Severa fought the urge to roll her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm probably going to be in the bath for awhile, and I don't want you to get hungry."

"Oh. Well, okay!" Cynthia nodded and waved. "See ya, Sevvy!" And, just as abruptly as her goodbye, she was gone, skipping away to join the rest of her knight-sisters for dinner.

Severa made her solitary way back to the armory and hung her lance back up on one of the racks. That done, she headed to the women's baths. A nice, long soak will do me good. The outer room was empty—the rest of the knights had already cleared out. Severa quickly stripped off her sweat-soaked practice gear, leaving it in a heap on the floor, and unbound her hair from its usual tails. After grabbing a clean towel from the rack, she headed into the baths proper.

She washed hastily, wanting to get the dirt and grime of training off as soon as possible. After a few rinses, she judged herself clean enough to leave the washroom and headed for the main pool. Once there, she sunk into the warm water with a sigh of contentment, immersing herself almost completely.

With only her face above the water, Severa stared up at the ceiling, thinking back again to the battle that Cynthia had brought up earlier. Severa had been traveling with Laurent and Gerome to retrieve the Fire Emblem and Argent from the hands of the Plegian Grimleal. When they had returned to Ylisstol in triumph, however, they had found Lucina in despair: Mount Prism had been defiled, and Naga's Voice slain at the hands of Grima's servants.

Severa had wanted to comfort Lucina so badly that it had ached. She'd wanted to give her a shoulder to cry on, to hold the princess in her arms, to tell her that everything would be all right... but the arrival of Grima and the Fell Dragon's minions had put an end to that.

And then, almost without thinking, Severa had been the first to place herself between Lucina and Grima. What was I trying to prove by sacrificing myself? That I was as brave as Mother? Or... was it something else?

She let out a heavy sigh. Ugh. Why am I dwelling on this, anyway? This is pointless.

The sound of footsteps came from the entrance to the washroom, and Severa frowned. I thought that everyone else had left... unless... She turned her head to call out the door. "Cynthia, I told you that you could go on without... me..."

Severa's voice trailed off. The woman who walked through the door was not Cynthia. Flowing blue hair, strong arms, and a body covered in scars. The Exalt smiled. "Hello, Severa. May I join you?"

Gods... Lucina.